SPS Seminar - Probability of accessing stable water-ice in the lunar south polar region

When:  Thursday 4^th August at 14.00

Where:  Microsoft Teams – Online/Hybrid

Speaker:  Dr Csilla Orgel (ESA)

Hosted by: Alexander Barrett

Abstract:

The South Pole of the Moon and its potential for cold-trapped volatiles to persist became the focus for future landed missions. Landing site selection for any surface mission typically involves optimizing a balance between quantities or criteria that indicate the extent to which the mission’s objectives can be met or exceeded. Oftentimes, a first step is to filter out unviable landing sites by applying operational or engineering requirements to environmental or terrain characteristics, and a second step amounts to optimization or trade-off to maximize satisfaction of mission objectives, including potential science return. In this study we show results quantifying the probability of being able to target areas where thermal conditions permit the long-term stability of cold-trapped volatiles in the shallow sub-surface and engineering constraints are equally satisfied.